


Armor of the Fallen

by HyourinmaruIce



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 22:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4155891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyourinmaruIce/pseuds/HyourinmaruIce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Steven and Connie correct Pearl's behavior, she takes a moment to reflect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Armor of the Fallen

The day Steven pointed out what she was doing to Connie, the day he snapped her out of her trance, was the day she remembered. Rose didn’t like Pearl being her knight. It was odd, in a way, to think that she was prepared to do that to someone else. Connie, who could not regenerate, didn’t deserve that. Oh god, what had she done?

It occurs to her, in the expanse of a few seconds afters taking the kids back to the house and watching them run off together, that she probably should move on. Should do something to better herself, so as to never do that again. Steven was Steven, not Rose, not anyone else. But she forgot that sometimes.

It slipped. The words, into the back of her mind and breathed life into her unconscious. It slipped, and it reminded her she was wrong. She was wrong.

She didn’t think of herself as perfect, despite what Amethyst thought, and she didn’t think of herself as expendable, despite what Rose had thought. She thought of herself as useful. As somethi- someone that made a difference. Yet…

She needed some distance between herself, Steven, and Connie for now. Perhaps for a little while, until she understood what was going on in her head. So, she went to Rose’s secret armory. It was a little out of the way, and a little unsafe now that they were unsure what was going on in the world and where Peridot was, but it was a nice trek. It was the perfect distraction.

The armory itself remained untouched, as always, and despite not having the gem necessary to activate the pedestals… well… Rose had turned to her to build it in the first place. Of course she built in a backdoor. It was small, and only accessible by a pearl, but still. She’d been afraid Rose would find it and be disappointed, so it was well hidden.

She placed her hand in a little alcove, that looked like rock to anyone else, and waited. Activation wasn’t instant in this case, just another cautionary device set in so no one found out what she’d done. The lights came on in a minute, and Pearl tapped her fingers twice to bring up the exact artillery she needed.

The Armor of the Fallen. It wasn’t gem armor, as Steven has surmised and asked about one day, it was human. Entirely so, and there were different types from different cultures.

All had claimed to be knights, and Pearl had learned from all of them. All had learned from Pearl. If there was one group of people, one group of humans, that Pearl understood, it had been these people. It was odd, really, she’d connected to them more than most gems. Perhaps, if they had been gems, they would have been very good friends.

As it was, though, they were knights and they called Pearl their “brother in arms” and “sister in death,” despite Rose’s dislike of the terms. Pearl had never understood why Rose didn’t appreciate the titles the humans had given her, they meant Pearl was getting along with humans and Rose always wanted that.

In that battle, she hadn’t sacrificed herself for Rose… she’d done it for them. And failed.

**She needed to apologize to Connie, _death was not always an option._**


End file.
